Page 50 of Left Hand of the Divine
Another tear rolled down his cheek, and he brushed it away angrily.
I grabbed his arm. “We will figure this out. We all will. We can help—”
He slammed his hands into my chest and pushed me away, halting my words.
“You can’t!” he roared and leapt to his feet. He started pacing in front of me, whispering under his breath as shadows started to seep from his body. They swirled around his legs until his feet disappeared into the dense blackness. It slithered across the floor towards me, falling through the cracks in the floorboards like heavy fog.
I needed to get a handle on this, or it was going to get out of hand. I stood up and slowly stepped closer to him, my hands held out placatingly. “Erebus, look at me.”
He continued to pace, his eyes wild and his fingers moving through the air like he was in the grip of madness.
I stepped into the shadows, and they twisted around me, their cool embrace wrapping around my legs and holding me back as I tried to reach him. “Erebus!”
The shadows thickened until they were like glue, slowing me down and holding my feet firmly to the floor. This was ridiculous. I needed to do something to save him. Fuck knows what was going to happen if he carried on.
I reached out and grabbed his shoulder as he passed with one hand, halting his movements. The other hand I thrust into the hair at the back of his neck and pulled his face to mine. “Erebus!”
He resisted my hold, pushing my chest and trying to pull his head from my grasp, but I wasn’t going to let him get free.
“Let me go!” he cried out.
“No, look at me!” I shouted back, holding him firmly.
He breathed deeply, his chest heaving with every breath.
“Calm the fuck down,” I said slowly, my voice low and commanding.
His eyes darted between mine, panic and fear clutching him in a fearsome grip. Little by little, breath by breath, he slowed down, and the death grip he had on my forearms started to loosen. Slowly, so I didn’t send him into another panic attack, I pulled him into my chest.
“What are you doing?” he whispered into the crook of my neck.
I laughed softly into the top of his hair. “I’m hugging you.”
It took a few moments, but eventually he relaxed. He dug his fingers into the small of my back as he drank in my touch. Jeez, this guy must be touch starved if he was clinging to me like a life raft.
I scraped my fingers along the back of his scalp, and he practically melted into my embrace with a soft moan. His shadowsunravelled, wisps peeling away until there was nothing left but the faint impression of their touch around my legs.
“Are you alright?” I asked as I stroked my thumb across the base of his skull.
He flinched and stiffened again in my arms. Perhaps he’d forgotten where he was for a moment. He let go of my back and lifted his head, his cheek brushing mine as he pulled back. “I’m fine. I just—”
“Well, this is cosy.”
Erebus stepped back as the twins walked into the gallery, interrupting whatever he was about to say. Rafe was grinning from ear to ear, and Rayne was watching with a curious expression. Gods, they looked good enough to eat. I wanted to sink my fangs into their necks and gorge myself until I was drunk on them while they fucked me senseless. Both were dressed in black leather jackets, and they looked like the walking definition of a bad boy. They exuded danger like predators, and I knew I was one hundred percent their prey because their gaze was determinedly fixed on me.
My skin tingled with anticipation. “Back already?”
“Yes,” Rayne huffed, his ice-blue eyes sparking with lightning bolts of amber.
Rafe stepped closer, the grin on his face turning more salacious the closer he got. “What are you up to?”
I glanced at Erebus, and the guy still looked panicked, but I didn’t think he was on the verge of another panic attack. I also didn’tthink he’d appreciate me telling them what had just happened. “Erebus and I were just talking about Sabine.”
Rafe cocked an eyebrow but didn’t challenge what I’d said.
Erebus pulled his gaze from the floor and threw me a grateful look. “Thank you, Magnus. I was not expecting such grace from you, considering our situation, but it is appreciated.” A small knowing grin tugged at the corner of his mouth. “I will leave you now. I have the feeling I will be very much in the way.”
His shadows spread out from his back and engulfed him. He stepped backwards into them, fading from view, his eyes lingering on me until the very last second. I couldn’t tell if that was disconcerting or not.
